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I feel like I just watched a spring practice that was pretending to be a title game. It will remain sweet for Philadelphia fans forever, but, outside of that, I don’t think it’s going to be particularly memorable for anyone else outside of that one insanely great TD pass to Nick Foles.

It occurred to me that four teams have won their first (and only) title since 2002; Tampa (2002), New Orleans (2009), Seattle (2013), and Philadelphia (obviously 2017). It also occurs to me we’ve been in a run of generally very exciting and fun Super Bowls; there have been a few less-than-exciting games, such as Indianapolis/Chicago in the rain or Denver dismantling the Panthers due to a combination of great defense, utter lack of coaching adjustments by the Panthers, and Mike Remmers cosplaying as a turnstile. Outside of those, almost all of them have been good . . . except for three of those four first-time wins. Now, Saints-Colts? That was a decent game. Wasn’t really great, and largely very memorable because of a gutsy onside kick and the whole Katrina Redemption aspect, but it wasn’t actively bad. The others?

2002—Jon Gruden had obviously been the coach of the Raiders the prior year, and had created a set of plays that helped take a career journeyman like Rich Gannon and turn him into the league MVP that year. Unfortunately for the Raiders, Gruden became the coach of the Buccaneers, their opponent the next year. Even more unfortunately, Raiders coach Bill Callahan didn’t bother to change any of the play calls. At all. Which, even all these years later, sounds so stupid it hurts to even type it (it’s in the Holy Trinity of Bad Super Bowl coaching, along with Rivera’s failure to adjust his offensive scheme vs. the Broncos and Mike Martz in that first Patriots win). Add to that the fact the Buccaneers were fielding one of the singly best defenses in NFL history (Football Outsiders has stats back to 1986, and still rank the ’02 Bucs as the best passing defense they’ve ever measured), and this game was ugly, brutal, and hard to watch. Except for me.

2013—One play into the game, Seattle was up 2-0, and it went downhill from there. Seattle didn’t even need an offense; Wilson had barely 200 yards passing, and the leading rusher was Percy Harvin with 45 yards. It was a defensive clinic on how to stop a truly great offense.

2017—Philadelphia and New England combine for 1,151 yards. The game featured one defensive play, which essentially sealed the game. I’m sure there’s extra enjoyment for some people out of this one because the Patriots lost and everybody hates the Patriots, but . . . this game sucked. Eagles fans will remember this one as fondly as I do the 2002 game. Everyone else will hope whoever shows up next year figures out how to tackle or at least in-frame with a receiver when they’re catching the ball. There were 42 first downs from passing alone. UGH.

2002, 2013, and 2017 feel like the kind of games only a mother/fan of the teams in question could love. If the Bills, Browns, Bengals, Titans, Jaguars, Chargers, Panthers, Falcons, Lions, or Cardinals even win a Super Bowl, let’s hope they provide us something a bit more memorable than the other first-time winners.

No, there was not a mistake in that list above; if there’s one thing the Football Gods have been making clear for decades now, it’s that the Minnesota Vikings are never going to win a Super Bowl.

So we’re on to the offseason now; I’m going to let this thread run for a while, and then start a pre-draft thread later when we get a bit closer. Because reasons.

"I would be insulted if I could figure out exactly what it means."
--*Legion*

He was 34 last year, which is old but younger than I expected. Way behind Terrance Newman.

As for his comments...

We obviously wanted Kirk. We franchised him because we wanted him there. It was up to ownership and the front office to kind of work those numbers out. They couldn’t get the numbers worked out, so he signed franchise tags those two football seasons. Everybody in that locker room was behind Kirk, wanted him there, but we wanted to feel like he wanted to be there as well.

Dude, the team rejected reasonable contract counteroffers from Cousins and his agent those first two years, and then rejected the trade offer to San Francisco that would have gotten him the long-term deal last offseason that Washington refused to offer. No sh*t he didn't want to be there anymore.

Hall should recognize that feeling, given that his demand for a trade is what ended his time in Atlanta.

Michael Bennett traded to Philly. Must be the end of the Seahawks Legion of Boom. Part of me is a little side for the inevitable. Another part of me is thrilled if the Seahawks can return to mediocrity. Every person is Vancouver suddenly became a football and Seahawks fan despite not watching a single regular season game.

Adding another $6.6m on their cap puts Philadelphia at a little over $15m in the red on their 2018 cap, which they have to get under by March 14th.

Cutting (or trading) Torrey Smith will open up $5 mil, but it gets harder after that.

This probably means Vinny Curry is gone, which opens up another $5 mil.

After that? I think the team has to look at dumping Jason Peters to save $4 mil. Also, Brent Celek can be cut to save $4 mil, but losing both Celek and Trey Burton does not put them in a good spot TE-wise.

Maybe a contract extension with Brandon Graham that tries to bring his 2018 cap hit down, but there's probably only $2m or so to be had there.

And then we're back to the idea of needing to move Foles. Apparently Philly has received a 2nd round trade offer from an AFC team, but they are putting the price for Foles at a 1st and a 4th.

Michael Bennett traded to Philly. Must be the end of the Seahawks Legion of Boom. Part of me is a little side for the inevitable. Another part of me is thrilled if the Seahawks can return to mediocrity. Every person is Vancouver suddenly became a football and Seahawks fan despite not watching a single regular season game.

Seattle is heading swiftly towards rebuild time. Richard Sherman apparently spent yesterday telling teammates goodbye, as he expects to be headed out the door shortly behind Bennett. Kam Chancellor is eating up a good bit of cap (especially since the Seahawks kept him on the roster, guaranteeing his 2018 salary) and may not play. Cliff Avril may not play either, but he *can* be cut for cap space.

Probably going to be a lot of drafting defense for Seattle next month.

Adding another $6.6m on their cap puts Philadelphia at a little over $15m in the red on their 2018 cap, which they have to get under by March 14th.

Cutting (or trading) Torrey Smith will open up $5 mil, but it gets harder after that.

This probably means Vinny Curry is gone, which opens up another $5 mil.

After that? I think the team has to look at dumping Jason Peters to save $4 mil. Also, Brent Celek can be cut to save $4 mil, but losing both Celek and Trey Burton does not put them in a good spot TE-wise.

Maybe a contract extension with Brandon Graham that tries to bring his 2018 cap hit down, but there's probably only $2m or so to be had there.

And then we're back to the idea of needing to move Foles. Apparently Philly has received a 2nd round trade offer from an AFC team, but they are putting the price for Foles at a 1st and a 4th.

Did Philly need Bennett? Like, seriously.

NSMike wrote:

How did I live before digital distribution of old, cheap games?

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

You did live before digital distribution of old, cheap games. Now you just play games.

It's odd though because Vinny Curry seems like the guy that's going to lose out his spot, but both Bennett and Brandon Graham lined up almost exclusively on the left side last year, so someone's flipping sides.

So they're seemingly getting rid of the younger player and eating some dead money to do so.

I dunno. It's definitely a "win now" move, which you can hardly fault in a Super Bowl winning team that's likely not going to be able to hold this roster together much longer.

They should take one, but probably not anyone who is left by this point unless Lamar Jackson is available. Of course, they're more likely to take one later in the draft, as the article states, but I'd rather see them pay the premium and sit one of these top QBs for a year. That's exactly what most of the QBs in this class need, more or less. I'm not sure the offensive staff on the Ravens is strong enough to do a good job tailoring it to their QB's strengths, so the rookie would likely be lost for most of the season anyway.

Niners give Marquise Goodwin a 3-year extension. Honestly I didn't think much of the move when the team signed him last year, but now I think he's a guy in ascent, and a legitimate potential starting split end.

Titans cut DeMarco Murray. That signing never made sense to me in the first place, but after he was successful in year one, I guessed I had misread it. Year two looked more like what I expected. Titans obviously ready for Derrick Henry to take the lead, won't be shocked if they draft or sign a RB2 to carry a decent chunk of the workload though.